I am a victim of coronavirus. I didn't get sick. None of my family are sick. But I lost my job, and with it I feel like I have lost everything. My confidence is coughing and spluttering. My self-esteem is gasping for oxygen. My usual positivity is feeling lethargic and my energy zapped. I'm scared this is contagious and my whole family will catch it from me. And there's no vaccine. Any advice?
Answer:
What can I tell you? It is so hard to go through this, and my heart goes out to you and all of us who are suffering in so many different ways. All I can say is this: perhaps you need a new cow.
Let me tell you a story.
There was once a very poor man in a small village. He had a large family but could hardly feed them with his meagre earnings. All he owned in this world was a cow, and the milk he sold was barely enough to get him through the week.
He prayed and prayed that he be helped, that he should be able to live a little more comfortably, but it seemed his prayers were ignored.
Then one day, there was a knock at the door. It was a holy man, the great Baal Shem Tov, who was passing though the village. "What an honour! What could the Baal Shem Tov want of me?" the poor man asked.
"I am collecting funds for a very important cause," said the Baal Shem Tov. "I need you to donate 18 rubles. And I need it now."
18 rubles! That was a huge amount of money for a poor milkman. It would take him a year to earn 18 rubles. Why would the Baal Shem Tov come to him of all people to ask for money? But our milkman was a man of faith. He asked no questions. "If such a holy man came to request this of me," he thought, "it means I must oblige."
But how can he come up with 18 rubles? There was no choice. The poor man went and sold his cow, his only source of income, and brought the 18 rubles to the smiling Baal Shem Tov.
Now, without any way to make a living, the poor milkman fell over the edge. He could not pay his rent, and was cruelly evicted from his home. Homeless and penniless, he sold his last few possessions and moved to a small hut in a nearby village. He managed to buy himself another cow, not as healthy and robust as his previous one, but at least he could go back to selling milk and feed his hungry children.
And then something extraordinary happened. A wealthy landowner needed some milk, and bought from this poor milkman. He came back later, saying he had never tasted such delicious milk in his life. He wanted our milkman to provide him and all of his staff with milk every day. And he would pay top dollar for this outstanding milk.
Finally our milkman could breathe. He had a steady income and his children were fed and clothed. He became an entrusted associate of the landowner, who eventually bequeathed to him his entire estate. The poor milkman was now a wealthy landowner himself.
The Baal Shem Tov later explained what had happened: "I saw that there was much blessing awaiting this man. But as long as he was in his old place, living his old life, the new blessings could not come down for him. He had to lose everything, he had to become an empty vessel, so G-d could give him a new life. I wanted to help him. I made him lose his beloved cow, and that seemed cruel at the time. But it wasn't. That cow was blocking the flow of abundance from coming down to him. Once he had nothing, once he lost it all, he could receive the answer to his prayers. The old cow had to go. The blessings came with the new cow."
My friend, we are living in a time when a lot of old cows have had to go. So many people are running on empty. But that emptiness makes space for a new and better life. For now, we need to be like our dear milkman. Have faith, pick yourself up, look for another village, another hut, and another cow. It might not be as nice as your old cow. But it just may be the cow with the blessings. May you find your cash cow very soon.
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